This week, the Alliance for Free Speech (formed by journalists, investigators, professors, NGOs and others) made public a strong statement, describing the difficult situation and asking for guarantees to fully perform their work.

Institutional violence, for omission and/or for deliberate action of the State, affects directly the professional performance of journalism and with it the democratic quality of society is hit as well. Restrictions to this right reduces the debate for the diagnosis and construction of solutions for the problems that Venezuelans suffer.

Every situation that a reporter cannot cover, if by restricting access, aggressions by functionaries or others, by stealing their work equipment, or by censorship, represents news that isn’t published or transmitted, and not received by citizens.”